The show can’t go on: Ending animal cruelty

The show can’t go on: Ending animal cruelty

An international animal charity is calling on tourists to think twice before they take part in wild animal experiences whilst on holidays.

The show can’t go on: Ending animal cruelty

Planning your next holiday?

Looking forward to those elephant rides, walking with lions or swimming with dolphins?

While wild animal attractions are part-and-parcel of most holidays, World Animal Protection warns, such activities help to facilitate animal cruelty.

The international organisation has launched a campaign to expose the hidden suffering behind these tourist attractions.

“What we need to do is alert people to the wildlife suffering in this industry. We don’t want that once in a lifetime experience to be a lifetime of misery for the animal,” Mike Baker, chief executive of World Animal Protection said.

Snatching them from their parents in the wild, breeding them in captivity; keeping them in inadequate conditions and beating them to break their wills – animal attractions can involve cruelty at every turn.

“Global research shows nearly half of all people who pay for a wild animal experience do so because they love animals. But we know that if these people were aware of the abuse that took place behind the scenes, they wouldn’t dream of taking part.”

That’s why the organization is urging tourist to be mindful before they book their holiday activities and tours.

“If an animal is doing something it wouldn’t do in the wild then it’s probably not right and something has gone on to make them behave that way,” says Baker.